"The goal of the Crossed Swords exercise is to practice and experiment in a field that is highly relevant in today's world," said Dr. Mart Noorma, director of NATO CCDCOE.

"We are a defensive alliance by nature. In order to understand how our adversaries think we also need to master offensive cyber skills. Deterrence in cyberspace is complicated, but we continue doing our best to keep our nations safe."

This year's exercise is designed to train military command elements in the command and control of offensive cyberspace capabilities as well as support the development of other operational domain and tactical skills related to cyberspace, such as information operations. The exercise is integrated with a concurrent Special Forces exercise with the aim of strengthening collaboration between kinetic and cyber units within the context of multi-domain operations.

"Crossed Swords is a highly focused offensive cyber exercise that is open to all CCDCOE nations. This gives us access to global perspectives, methods, skills, and insights in a collaborative learning and training environment where we can all learn from each other and the similar cyber threats we all face," said Cdr. Jack Shis, Crossed Swords exercise director.

"In this iteration, Crossed Swords is employing realistic technologies and attack methods, and focuses on key infrastructure and logistics systems that are critical to any military effort," Shis added.

The scenario occurs in a fictitious setting where a friendly state – "Berylia" is engaged in armed conflict against a hostile adversary "Crimsonia."

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